04 October 2024
Oak Academy's AI Lesson Planning Tools - CAS AI TC meeting
If you were unable to join us for the “Oak Academy's AI Lesson Planning Tools” CAS AI thematic community meeting, don't worry! You can catch up on all the content and a recording of the session below.
Key Takeaways:
- Oak Academy’s AI tool, Aila, aims to reduce teacher workload by assisting in lesson planning.
- The tool uses AI models trained specifically for UK schools, ensuring content is reliable and tailored.
- Aila incorporates teacher input, recognising the limitations of AI and preventing biases or inaccuracies.
- The lesson planning process is dynamic, offering features such as customisable learning cycles and automatic quiz generation.
- Aila integrates with existing curriculum resources and partners, such as the Raspberry Pi Foundation, to enhance teaching efficiency.
The recent thematic community session focused on the evolving role of AI in education, particularly how Oak Academy’s latest tool, Aila, aims to support teachers by streamlining lesson planning. Hosted by Ben Davies from CAS, and featuring Stuart Davison and Hannah-Beth Clark from Oak Academy, the session walked us through the capabilities of Aila and its potential to reduce teacher workload, while still keeping teachers at the centre of the creative process.
Stuart introduced Aila as a lesson planning assistant designed to create lesson structures based on AI-generated suggestions, but with a crucial focus on teacher involvement. Aila integrates Oak’s carefully curated curriculum resources, ensuring that the tool is not just generating content, but producing "teacher-good" material, suitable for the unique needs of UK classrooms.
A key feature of Aila is its use of retrieval-augmented generation, meaning it leans on Oak’s lesson content and curriculum to generate lesson materials that are aligned with national standards. The tool was described as being in its public beta phase, and though it still has some areas for improvement, it is already making a significant impact by automating tasks like quiz generation, slide creation, and even homework tasks.
Throughout the demonstration, Stuart emphasised that while AI can save time, it isn’t perfect. The tool’s outputs may sometimes be limited or incorrect, due to issues such as biased datasets or hallucinations. However, Oak has built safeguards into Aila to mitigate these challenges. Teachers can also adapt lesson plans generated by Aila to better fit their teaching style and class needs, ensuring that the final product is not just accurate but personalised.
Hannah-Beth further elaborated on Aila’s evolving AI models, explaining how the lesson planning tool will become more refined over time, particularly as subject-specific content is added. For teachers, this is a promising development, as Aila will eventually feature subject-specific prompts, allowing it to better cater to the needs of particular classes, topics, or even key stages. The more teachers engage with the tool, the better the AI will become at generating high-quality, subject-relevant content.
One of the standout aspects of Aila is its ability to structure lessons around "learning cycles." These break down complex topics into digestible phases, making it easier for students to build their understanding gradually. Teachers can easily tweak the lesson suggestions to introduce practical activities, quizzes, and reflective tasks, creating a balanced learning experience.
As Stuart mentioned, the goal is for teachers to use Aila’s materials as a starting point. The flexibility of the tool allows teachers to adapt the resources to suit their classroom environment, whether that involves adding specific vocabulary, adjusting content for different learning levels, or integrating formative assessments throughout the lesson.
Next Steps:
You might find it helpful to take a moment to reflect on your current planning processes. How much time do you spend on creating lesson plans from scratch? Could a tool like Aila offer a valuable starting point, freeing you up to focus on the more nuanced aspects of teaching?
Here are some questions to consider:
- How might AI support the specific needs of my students?
- Could integrating automated quizzes or learning cycles enhance my classroom’s engagement?
- How can I maintain control over the content and teaching style while incorporating AI tools?
Further Resources:
To explore Aila, engage with CAS thematic communities, and catch up on previous recordings, here are some valuable links: